Jillian sat down with the famed IndyCar and NASCAR driver to talk about what scares her, the male ego, and how it feels to be the only woman on the track.

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“She’s a pistol,” exclaimed the teamster in the Mets cap. Just as I turned to say thanks I realized it wasn’t me he was referring to. Right then I caught my first in-person glimpse of my Go Daddy Super Bowl spot co-star, Danica Patrick. As she stepped out of her trailer, I felt like I had been inserted into one of those flicks from the 1980s. You know the ones where the girl walks in slow-mo out into a wind tunnel causing every man within a one-mile radius to drop everything and fall to his knees.

The racing prodigy, sex symbol, powerhouse of a half pint (she’s tiny - 5’2” at best) turned and made a beeline right over to me, extended her hand with a smile and said, “Hi. Danica. Nice to meet you.” As I reached back to shake “hello,” I instantly felt like the kid who just became buddies with the most popular girl in school.

That day and in every interaction we’ve shared since, she’s been gracious, motivational, and friendly, offering me everything from relationship counseling to investment advice, to moral support during my transition to daytime television. And of course, she gave me a tour of her No. 7 GoDaddy.com IndyCar, which might have been my highlight of 2011.

So, you can see why I wanted to talk with Danica for my interview series on inspiration and achieving dreams. Her words are honest, straightforward, and passionate. Enjoy.

Jillian Michaels: Hey buddy. The first thing I really want to get is a little history about how you got into the sport. I know you started as a kid right?

Danica Patrick: Yeah, I started racing go-karts when I was 10. They were just little five-horsepower brake engines, like lawn mower engines. So that’s the first kind of car I ended up driving. I started doing it because my dad was into racing. We used to go to a lot of races and watch. Then, my sister really wanted to do it. There was somebody in our neighborhood my sister’s age who raced go-karts, so we went down to check it out and thought it was kind of a fun family thing to do on the weekends. We were going to buy a pontoon boat, but that didn’t happen so then we bought go-karts. It was a pretty life-altering choice and purchase.

JM: Clearly. So now you started racing go-karts at 10 years old, but when you were 15 you went to train in Europe? What prompted that? When did you guys recognize that you had serious skill at this, like “you could be a professional racer” kind of skill? And how did Europe come about?

DP: I still wonder if I’m going to be a serious racecar driver…

JM: Ha! What are you talking about, dude! You’re kidding right? You have got to be kidding me? REALLY?!

DP: I don’t know if you feel the same, but no matter what you do, whether you try and prove it to someone else or not, I always try to prove to myself.

JM: Prove that you are great at what you do?

DP: Well, you know, if you have a bad day, weekend, or event, and you’re frustrated … You have to prove it to yourself because there are a lot of really talented people out there, and I feel like I’m my own worst critic. So okay, maybe I’ve made it to the big leagues.

JM: MAYBE!?

DP: Ha, okay, okay, I’m in the big leagues. To answer the first part of your question about heading to Europe, at the time I was racing go-karts and went to the Indy 500. I was there with Lyn St. James and I was just hanging out at the racetrack while she was practicing. I obviously was very young - only 14. And I clearly wasn’t on the racetrack but I was up in the suite and there was this British guy there. I was sitting at the bar ordering a kiddy cocktail and I started asking him a lot of questions about what it was like racing in Europe. I guess I asked all the right questions because two years later when I was 16 the people he worked with said they had followed my career for the last couple of years and would really love to talk with me about an opportunity. I remember when I was 14, I was told that I could learn more in England in a year than I could learn in five years in the states.

JM: You went to Europe without your family? Alone?

DP: Yep, I went and lived with these two girls, one of whom I had never met before and the other I had met for all of five minutes. I slept on their couch for a while. It sounds really dramatic! Like, I slept on a couch …

JM: It is, though. Trekking to Europe alone at 16 to figure things out for yourself is pretty dramatic.

DP: Eventually, after a couple of months, I moved into a bedroom that was the size of a shoebox. I was excited to be there, and probably the biggest thing is that my parents let me do it at 16. I was in high school, and I left high school half way through my junior year. That’s a pretty big stretch for a parent, especially [when your kid has] aspirations of becoming a professional athlete, which is not exactly the easiest thing to accomplish. I spent three years there and I learned a lot about racing.

Did I learn more there in one year then I would have learned in five years in the states? No, but I probably did learn about my life and being a responsible person. I learned a lot about people and what we are all capable of and the things to be careful of. I learned who to trust and how much to tell people. I feel lucky to have learned [early] about the kinds of things that would have been much more detrimental had I learned them in my twenties.

JM: Right. Wish I could say the same. I messed up a lot in my youth and my later years. And I’m still making those kinds of mistakes even now. Insert loud sigh here.

JM: So when did you technically “go pro” or join IndyCar or NASCAR? And, by the way, I’m sorry I’m confused. You were in both?

DP: I have not always been in both. I started getting paid when I was 19. That was the first year I would consider myself a professional. I started racing IndyCar in 2005. I did only IndyCar until last year, so 2010. 2010 was the first year I raced both IndyCar and NASCAR. And then this year I also raced IndyCar and NASCAR.

JM: So you started out in IndyCar in ’05 and that first year you were “Rookie of the Year.” How did that make you feel?

DP: It was a cool thing and it was good to achieve but, I don’t know, as a competitor you are always striving for the next thing. I just about won the Indy 500 my first year so I would sure have loved to carry that title as Indy 500 winner, but we live and learn and figure it out along the way. You don’t get it all right at the beginning, I suppose.

JM: When I first met you, I could not believe you were smaller than me, which I find utterly thrilling cause that doesn’t happen often. You are this little teeny person in this macho, male-driven sport. What’s that like for you? And how do you handle it?

DP: I don’t know any different. I have always been one of the only girls or the only girl, so it seems very normal to me. Working with guys is easy, too. They are very straight thinkers. What you think they are thinking, they’re thinking. If a pretty girl walks by they’re like, “Oh, that’s a hot chick,” and that’s what they’re thinking.

JM: I find that occasionally, male egos can be very fragile and when a woman comes in and starts kicking butt and taking names, things can get a little heated and hostile. You’ve kicked some butt, and I’ve seen them make excuses as to why you are better, saying things like, “Oh, well, she’s lighter than me.”

DP: I don’t think men are conditioned to be equal to women, but I think that’s changing. The equality mentality is there and it is slowly evolving over time. But I don’t think guys like being beat by girls. I don’t like being beat by girls!

JM: Dude, you don’t like getting beat, period. I don’t think you discriminate; you are pretty competitive all the way around.

DP: That’s true.

JM: What’s the average speed for NASCAR?

DP: Let’s take the Indy500. The average speed going around the Indianapolis speedway, which is a pretty flat track, is 170 mph.

JM: Have you had a serious accident?

DP: My worst accident was my very first IndyCar race. I was racing at Homestead in Miami in the very south of Florida, and I was running in the top 10. A driver decided he was going to go way up high, got loose and caused an accident. I was going low to avoid it but a car that had broken suspension was slowly coming down the track above. He clipped my right rear tire and sent me straight up into the wall, so I pretty much hit head on and then my car caught fire. I don’t really remember any of it, so I’m pretty sure I lost consciousness. They shut down the track and the footage shows me getting out of the car with the ambulance in front of me. But I turn around and start drunkenly stumbling away from it. So they redirect me, take me into the ambulance, and get me to the medical center at the track. The first thing I remember was waking up, opening my eyes up, and having a bright light above my head. I was freaking out. Then my mom came up and she said, “You had a little accident but you’re going to be okay.” And the next thing I was thinking was, “Um, can I feel my legs?” At the same time, there was a priest over my head as well, so it was a very surreal experience.

JM: I can’t imagine anything being more terrifying. Your first pro race, you’re on the track, and you have an experience like that. That’s insane. You almost die and think you’re paralyzed! I wouldn’t have been able to get back in the car! How on earth did you get back in the car?

DP: I guess the fear is always out there. And the older I get the more worried I get about wellbeing. As you get older, you witness people get sick and you’re not a 15 year old anymore where you feel like you have a million years left to live. You get married, you think about your significant other, you think about your parents, you think about your grandparents that get sick. You think more about the wellbeing part of your life. But I wasn’t thinking about it as much back then.

JM: So, no terror, no PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) getting back in the car?

DP: No, I think that’s just part of it. You can’t drive scared. You won’t take the right chances or push as hard as you could if you’re scared.

JM: What do you do when fear comes up? Or do you have this intrinsic faith in your abilities and an inherent sense that what will be will be? What would you say to someone who is contending with fear? I had a motorcycle accident and haven’t ridden the same since. And I had a bad surfing accident and never got back on the board. So there’s definitely something about you that’s unique which allows you to overcome fear or manage fear in this way.

DP: Yeah, I also became Catholic when I got married and I think that faith of putting your fate in someone else’s hands and hoping and praying for the best is very powerful. You say I’m going to do everything I can and I’m going to be as smart as possible, but the future is not all in my control anymore. Whether I pray for safety or angels, or to be smart, I think that’s something that helps me. However, at the end of the day, I’m sure it’s just something inside of me from a young age that helped me to not be scared. I’m scared of a lot of other things though! I’m scared of heights, bugs, the dark, water - I mean there is a lot of stuff I’m afraid of that is elementary stuff, but for some reason I’m able to get back on the bike, as they say.

JM: It’s interesting that you say that your parents were meant to buy a pontoon boat and then ended up buying go-karts. I’ve noticed with a lot of people like you, people who are top of their game and considered “super achievers,” there’s always an element of fate that comes into play. Do you believe in that at all?

DP: Sure! I definitely do. I think that we all have our own sort of path and plan that’s there and it’s a matter of making good decisions along the way. It’s about responding to the signs. If someone doesn’t call you back about an offer on a pontoon boat, you chose another route. The law of least resistance, you go where it’s making sense and where the opportunities are.

JM: What about dreaming? Obviously you developed a love for racing despite the way you fell into it. Do you believe people should pursue a dream at all costs?

DP: I don’t force anything but once the journey began I always dreamt really big about where I would be and what I would do. When you think big like that it inevitably guides your actions in that direction. The things you do are in your mind, even if it’s subconsciously, so I always kept the big picture in my head.

JM: What would you say to a woman who struggles with feeling ashamed or guilty about thinking big or having dreams or desires? So many feel they need to constantly sacrifice their own needs for everyone else’s - parents, spouse, kids?

DP: I would say that you should be around people who encourage and support big dreams. These are really important things in your life and if somebody is not going to stand behind you on those big ideas and aspirations - things that take some sort of bravery and confidence to have - then maybe you need to rethink that relationship. What are the motives of the people around you? Are they hindering you? Are you communicating accurately what you want and is it really what you want? And do you have the right amount of passion for it?

JM: You must have a ton of passion because when I went around the track with Mario Andretti, he pulled about 160mph, which is 70mph slower than you have driven. I was nauseous and I could barely turn my head from side to side because of the g-force. How in the world do you drive that car for hours at a time, control it, and be aware of your surroundings? How do you physically train for that and how do you do it on the road?

DP: Usually when I’m on the road, for the most part, I’m doing my job. I’m participating in the physical activity that I’m training for. That’s one of the good things about being an athlete - when you travel you are doing what you are training for. But, when I’m not, I try to do a lot of running. I think that’s the easiest cardiovascular activity. All you need is a pair of running shoes.

JM: So you train endurance for racing?

DP: Yes. I also train strength as well. Three days a week, I lift. I’ll do one lower-body day and two upper-body days. I’ll throw that in with cardio, which is everything from long, steady runs to shorter interval runs or a bike ride for a couple of hours. I do all kinds of different cardio activity just to shake it up. I usually take about a month off at the end of the year just to get away from the possibility of over-training, but my body is built for it. I’ve been doing this for 20 years.

JM: Talk to me about the mental discipline. When I was on that track at IndyCar, it had to have been 118 degrees. You are in a car, in a fire suit with a thermal wrapped around your head and you can’t get out for four hours. You can’t use the bathroom. You can’t eat anything. I was in the car for five minutes and I thought I was going to die. The mental discipline that it requires to put your body through that kind of suffering is surreal. How do you prepare for that?

DP: In the summer you have to be aware of dehydration, which is probably the biggest concern. You train for the physical. You train for endurance. But there are not a lot of ways to train for heat exhaustion. Especially in NASCAR, there’s very little air movement in the car because you’re in a closed cockpit. It’s very hard to train for that sort of thing so you just have to prepare your body right by eating or drinking the right amount at the right time.

JM: Where do you go in your head when you are physically miserable? Do you have some sort of way to tune out the pain? I would die in that car sweating and feeling claustrophobic like that.

DP: Well, you’re pretty focused on what you are doing so the heat thing isn’t top of mind. The temperature inside of a stock car can get to be around 140 degrees. You drink as often as possible and you try to relax your body. There’s nothing else that you can do. You deal with it and remind yourself to focus on what you are doing. It’s mind over matter.

JM: That’s truly awesome. I will be watching!

JM: Now, these next questions are real simple and straightforward. What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

DP: Every time I went out in a go-kart, my dad said to have fun. I think that is really good advice. It reminds you to do something you love to do and have fun at.

JM: What are you most proud of?

DP: The funny thing is it’s probably what I think about least, but when I look back, the coolest thing I can think of is setting records. A record is a record. There’s a first time for everything. Records like being the first woman to win an IndyCar race, or in Las Vegas in the Nationwide Series, becoming the highest finishing a female in a NASCAR race [4th place]. I’ve only done a few races and haven’t competed in a full NASCAR season yet, but to have had the highest finish for a female in history [the record was previously set in 1940 for 5th place] - those are cool statistics to have. I have no idea what the records are until I break them. Then, after, I think to myself, “What?” Being the highest finishing female in Indy and NASCAR! You are looking back on the whole history of something and you have done it better than anyone else. That’s pretty cool!

JM: Who is your hero and why?

DP: I don’t really have a hero. I feel like I learn from everyone I’m around, whether it’s my dad or my husband, my mom or my sister, you or anybody else. I like to hear their stories, get to know them, and ask questions. That’s how you learn. I don’t ever want to be like one person. I like to take away the best parts of everyone I meet.

JM: That’s a great answer. What’s your biggest regret?

DP: Probably a really generic answer, but I’m a really fortunate, lucky person. I’m successful and I have a great family. I think that if I were to go back and change something it would change the course of all of that, so I wouldn’t change anything. But perhaps I might have changed one thing. At my first Indy500, I was a little short on fuel and I saved fuel so I could finish the race, but looking back I would have taken that chance at greatness. I would have much rather run out of fuel in the lead and had that chance to win then given it up.

JM: You would have risked it all?

DP: Yeah, I would have risked it all for sure. It’s the biggest race in the world and worth taking the risk.

JM: Okay, last two, what’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to overcome?

DP: Getting people around me to see that I had talent and getting them to invest in me. Especially being a girl in racing, which is such a male-dominated sport, it took time to get people to believe in me and give me the faith, support, crew, equipment… the right everything. We know it takes the right “everything” to make it work. It’s about making everyone around you believe that you can do it. That was probably one of the hardest things.

JM: Last question. What would you say to the female reader in general, what’s your parting shot to her about living her healthiest, happiest life?

DP: I feel it’s very important to find what you love to do. I think that’s one of the hardest things probably to figure it out. Gosh, I mean how often is a girl going to get out there, drive a go-kart, and figure out that’s what she has a passion for? You have to be open-minded and try a lot of things. It’s about finding that thing and believing that you can do anything with that. Anything is possible, and most of the time I feel we are the ones who hold ourselves back, so just go for it!

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